Skepticism and Animal Faith
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1923
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- English
- Length
- Medium · 300 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendScepticism and Animal FaithDover, 1955The standard inexpensive reprint of the 1923 text.
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The introduction to Santayana's mature system. He pushes doubt further than Descartes, to a solipsism of the present moment in which only essences, pure qualities and forms, are given and nothing can be known to exist. Since this is unlivable, he argues, all belief in existence rests on animal faith, the trust in a surrounding world that every creature acts on before it reasons. From this he recovers matter, the self, memory and science as objects of faith, and defines the realms of essence, matter, truth and spirit.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Skepticism and Animal Faith are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
